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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27321412">The World Has Gone Insane</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fantasyforever/pseuds/fantasyforever'>fantasyforever</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Julie and The Phantoms (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fluff and Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pranks and Practical Jokes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 21:53:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,656</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27321412</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fantasyforever/pseuds/fantasyforever</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke heard "The World Has Gone Insane" from the Jekyll and Hyde musical, and got inspired to go haunt Bobby. Alex and Reggie are along for the ride with some fun pranking shenanigans. Haunting Bobby worked so well last time, so it'll be even better this time. Definitely. They've thought this revenge plan all the way through. Haven't they?</p><p>Takes place after the garage party, and before the Orpheum. We're pretending Halloween happened then for some thematic fun.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alex &amp; Luke Patterson &amp; Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>69</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The World Has Gone Insane</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This fandom has taken over my life and I couldn't be happier! Despite not being the target demographic. And ignoring my work to write this.</p><p>The song that inspired this fic is "The World Has Gone Insane" from the Jekyll and Hyde Broadway musical (specifically the original concept album). You can find it on YouTube!</p><p>I haven't written anything in years, so let me know what you think! I hope you enjoy and get a good laugh!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Halloween music?” Julie laughed as she entered the garage after school the day before Halloween.</p><p>Reggie was jamming out to the radio blaring the popular seasonal tunes. Luke glanced up from his notebook and shrugged at her.</p><p>“What day could be better than Halloween for a ghost, Julie?” Reggie asked, bouncing over to her. He grabbed her arms and pulled her along with him, dancing to the music. “Gotta live my best ghost life!”</p><p>“And living your ‘best ghost life’ involves hopping around the studio to <em>this</em> music for two hours straight? Really? Okay,” Alex commented from the loft.</p><p>“Better than country music,” Luke muttered, earning a pout from Reggie.</p><p>Julie laughed, “Okay, okay, guys. We can keep listening to this, or we could practice our songs. Flynn is going to upload our garage party gig video to YouTube today, so hopefully we’ll get some gigs soon. Of course, we’ve worked really hard recently, so we <em>could</em> take a break instead, and I can show you some newer Halloween songs that aren’t on that radio station. Oh, how about some creepy psychological horror songs too?”</p><p>“New Julie-recommended music? I’m game!” Reggie bounced over to the radio and turned it off, ignoring the indiscrete sighs of relief from Luke and Alex.</p><p>Julie sat on the couch next to Luke and opened her laptop. Reggie plopped down on her other side and Alex poofed onto the couch beside Luke. Julie showed them spooky and creepy music from a variety of genres until Ray called her in for dinner. She left with a smile and a promise to reserve all day tomorrow for band practice. She wanted to spend Halloween with her favorite ghosts, after all.</p><p>Alex left to go find Willie and spend some time with him somewhere Caleb wouldn’t check up on him. Reggie went to go check out Carlos’ latest ghost hunting paraphernalia while the Molinas were busy eating dinner.</p><p>Luke, on the other hand, was losing his mind. ‘The World Has Gone Insane' just would not get out of his head. Julie had called it “the most steampunk song I’ve ever heard,” whatever that meant.</p><p>It was captivating in a way most songs outside his wheelhouse weren’t. The baseline pulled him in. The tone kept him there. Creepy, but not in the over-wrought way so many Halloween songs were. Just off enough to leave the listener on edge. Scary, but not like a haunted house, or even most horror movies. Just enough to spark the imagination – would experiencing a psychotic break feel like that? Were there people for whom that song rang true?</p><p>Alex poofed back into the studio. “I found Willie! He said he’s busy scoping out haunted houses. His Halloween tradition is to pick the worst one he can find and try to single-handedly make it a hit with the tourists. He’s just so funny and cute!”</p><p>Luke was half-listening to Alex gush about his skater boy when a fantastic idea came to mind.</p><p>“–and I asked if he really scared that guy badly enough to jump into his girlfriend’s arms and –” Alex broke off with a suspicious look at Luke. “One, you’re not listening to me. Rude. Just tell me you’re busy and I’ll go chat with Julie.”</p><p>“Hey now, she only has so much time for ghosts every day. No hogging it.” Luke already had a hard time convincing her to write songs with him for a few hours every week because she kept having to go finish schoolwork.</p><p>Luke pointedly ignored the look Alex shot him. “Really? You, of all people –”</p><p>“Guys!” Reggie said as he poofed into the center of the studio. “You won’t believe what I just –” he paused after a glance at Alex. “Uh, is everything okay?”</p><p>Alex sighed and smiled with a clear effort. “Just the usual,” he commented with an eye roll and a flick of the head towards Luke. Reggie nodded empathetically. Luke was decidedly not going to acknowledge whatever that commiseration was about.</p><p>“But back to what I was saying. Two, you had the <em>look</em> on your face.” Alex rested a fortifying hand on his ever-present bag.</p><p>Reggie’s eyes flicked to the bag and back to Luke. “Not the –”</p><p>“Yeah. That one.”</p><p>Luke rolled his eyes. “Guys, you haven’t even heard the idea, you don’t know it’ll be bad.”</p><p>“The last time you wore that face you snuck a milk carton into my bag and ‘forgot’ to tell me about it. For a <em>week</em>!” Alex cried.</p><p>“Yeah man,” Reggie winced, “I can’t think of a time when your prank face has ever preceded anything but trouble.”</p><p>Luke pouted. “At least hear me out?” Faced with their suspicious expressions, he pulled out his puppy dog eyes and wheedled, “Neither of you is getting pranked. This is someone I <em>know </em>you’ll agree deserves it.”</p><p>Reggie sighed in defeat and collapsed on to the couch next to Luke. Alex looked towards the ceiling as if praying for patience before settling on Luke’s other side. Luke thought he’d be better off looking towards Julie. That was Luke’s strategy when he needed to feel better. He was confident it would work for Alex too.</p><p>Luke turned his excited eyes to Alex, “You remember our first haunting?”</p><p>Alex’s eyebrows rose as Reggie gasped, “You’re planning a prank on Bobby?”</p><p>Luke’s grin grew. “More of a Halloween surprise, really. You know that ‘steam-punk’ song Julie showed us earlier?”</p><p>“The one with the guy hallucinating and turning into his evil alter ego?” Reggie asked. “I don’t know. Doesn’t sound very funny.”</p><p>“It’s Bobby, though. It doesn’t have to be funny!” Luke countered.</p><p>“For the record, I think this is a terrible idea.”</p><p>“Alex, you haven’t even heard my plan yet!”</p><p>“Does it have to do with trying to make Bobby hallucinate?” Alex asked.</p><p>“I would’ve phrased it ‘bringing the lyrics to life’ or something similarly exciting, but, yeah. You have to admit the line ‘<em>old friends risen from the dead to taunt me’</em> has potential.”</p><p>Reggie grinned. “Oh, we could write on the mirror again! Or maybe Julie has some window markers we can borrow? Should we brainstorm taunts before we go or see what comes out in the spur of the moment?”</p><p>When Reggie paused for breath Alex cut in, “Okay, I can agree he at least deserves something like that. Maybe even a little fright. But let’s agree right now that we’re not going to do anything to <em>actually</em> make him think he’s hallucinating. That’s taking the prank too far.”</p><p>“He has a mansion. He even has a therapist. That he pays enough to have available to him at any time. Judging by him flying away in his own<em> personal helicopter</em> last time. A scare is the least we can give him.” Reggie protested.</p><p>“Even a scare is still not far enough,” Luke grumbled, “But actually making him hallucinate would be hard to pull off. So, fine, we stick to prank-level stuff. Here’s what I’m thinking…”</p><p>The boys spent the rest of the evening planning. By midnight they were poofing around the city to grab the supplies they needed. It took longer than expected, what with corporeality being an unpredictably flexible concept for them and anything they held.</p><p> </p><p>4 a.m. on Halloween found them outside Bobby’s mansion, supplies piled up and ready to make some mischief.</p><p>They sang <em>The World Has Gone Insane</em> to themselves and each other as they went about their prank.</p><p>
  <em>Ahh! Ahh!<br/>
The world has gone insane!<br/>
And parasites are eating at my brain!</em>
</p><p>They placed the fist-sized squishy brain stress-ball toys they’d picked up at a craft store around the mansion. Reggie set about gluing little rubber worms on them. Worms were close enough to parasites, right?</p><p>
  <em>And nothing is the way it was before!<br/>
A pack o' wolves is howling at my door!</em>
</p><p>Alex sets up the old boom box they found at a thrift store on the front step. He puts in the “Authentic Wolf Howls” CD they found in a music store that looked like it had seen better days. Apparently stores that sold CDs didn’t get a lot of foot traffic anymore. Alex had made sure to leave a few dollars on the counter. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much money in his bag, so most of the stores they’d visited were out of luck. He’d mention it to Julie once they started playing paid gigs. For now, the very least he could do was help the stores keep their inventory accurate with apology notes.</p><p>
  <em>I'm living in a non-stop nightmare!<br/>
Dead men's dreams!<br/>
Filled with screaming pain!</em>
</p><p>Luke’s a little salty the guys shot down his idea of push pins in Bobby’s bed, but he supposed he didn’t <em>really</em> want to be a cliché vengeful ghost. He sighed as he settled for hanging ghost decorations around Bobby’s bedroom. Looking at the screaming face in front of him Luke grinned. He’d had fun drawing tortured looks on the “ghosts” and splattering some paint. He thought the purple under the rope used to hang the ghost up was particularly inspired. Hanging them all around Bobby’s bed was surprisingly satisfying. If Bobby was anything like his teenage self, he’d scream.</p><p>
  <em>Hurling me to mad extremes,<br/>
In a world. That's. Gone. Insane!</em>
</p><p>Around the house Luke, Alex, and Reggie sang together as they moved to their next objectives.</p><p>
  <em>The world has lost its head!<br/>
And every evil hour is filled with dread!<br/>
I'm floating on a lake - But upside down!<br/>
And when I try to breathe, I start to drown!</em>
</p><p>Reggie sang as he danced a life-size inflatable pirate over to Bobby’s pool. Flipping the pirate face down, Reggie dropped it into the water and watched it float into the center of the pool. Not the most realistic decoration, but ah well. He’d even glued on a wig in an attempt to give the impression of a real drowned man in Bobby’s pool, but the porch lights gleamed off the pirate’s plastic body, and Reggie had a feeling the sunlight would be just as revealing.</p><p>
  <em>I cannot speak as nameless ghosts and faceless ghouls,<br/>
Bid me join the dead!<br/>
No one tells these gruesome fools,<br/>
That the world. Has. Lost. Its. Head!</em>
</p><p>Alex sang quietly with a cheerful smile as he peeled the ghost and ghoul window decorations from their packaging. Honestly, he thought they looked adorable. As he stuck them on the windows all around Bobby’s annoyingly spacious living room, he took out a window marker to give them all little speech bubbles. He gave most of them the phrases the boys had planned earlier.</p><p>“Join us on the other side…”</p><p>“#LivingMyBestGhostLife”</p><p>“Being alive is overrated!”</p><p>“Boo!”</p><p>“Join me in the cemetery ;)”</p><p>“So <em>that’s</em> why health code violations exist.”</p><p>If he added a few ghost puns and a motivational quote or two, well, that was nobody’s business but his own.</p><p>
  <em>Fiendish creatures leave their graves to taunt me!<br/>
Old friends risen from the dead to haunt me!</em>
</p><p>Luke sang to his reflection in Bobby’s bathroom mirror, making faces to try to get that perfect, unhinged look. Sadly, his face just wasn’t built for creepy. Ah well. Words would have to do. He grinned and grabbed a red window marker from his back pocket and set to work covering Bobby’s huge bathroom mirror in taunts.</p><p>This was one time he was grateful for his bad handwriting. In his humble opinion, it made the words look even more sinister. Well, as sinister as phrases like “talentless thief” could be. Whatever. He’d made his point. Lyrics were his specialty, not taunts. Though, writing on the mirror was surprisingly cathartic. With any luck, Luke thought gleefully, they might make Bobby run screaming for his therapist again!</p><p>
  <em>God forsaken images that daunt me!<br/>
Drowning in an endless flood of blood!</em>
</p><p>Reggie sang with relish as he placed the printout of the article about their death under Bobby’s platinum record. This was well worth the hour it had taken him to figure out how the printer worked.</p><p>He grabbed a bottle of fake blood and splashed a nice, big pool of it next to the article. Enough to splash it a bit, but not make it illegible. Then he strolled up the stairs, bottle face down to drip a trail of fake blood all the way to Bobby’s bedroom. He entered the room and used the last of the bottle to lead the trail all the way to Bobby, who was snoring in his bed.</p><p>Reggie hadn’t even realized he’d dodged around the ghosts Luke had already hung around Bobby’s bed until he turned around and found himself face-to-face with one. “GAH!”</p><p>Luke’s head popped out of the bathroom. “You good? Oh, hey, I like the blood!”</p><p>Reggie’s laugh was a little too high-pitched. “Yeah, yeah. Just admiring your… creativity with those painted ghost faces. Definitely didn’t give me a scare there.”</p><p>Luke grinned, eyes crinkling, “Let’s hope Bobby appreciates my ‘creativity’ too,” before ducking back into the bathroom, marker in hand.</p><p>
  <em>The world has lost its mind!<br/>
And everywhere I turn, I fear I'll find,<br/>
Some nightmare even worse than those I see!<br/>
Satanic demons closing in on me!</em>
</p><p>Alex danced into the kitchen with a sidestep and a slide. With a drummer’s precision he placed demon stickers around the kitchen to every beat of the song. Cute little grinning demon on the side of the fridge. Twirl. Demon with a beard on the underside of the microwave. Slide. Fanged demon in the knife drawer. Shoulder roll, wrist flick combo. Demon on fire on a stovetop burner. Pirouette. Demon with a tail on the inside of the cabinet with the mugs and glasses.</p><p>When he finished adding demon stickers to any unexpected place he could think of in the kitchen, Alex trailed a few closer to Bobby’s room. One chuckling demon on the underside of the staircase handrail. A demon with a sickle half hiding behind the fronds of a houseplant. A demon pulling on its eye and sticking out it’s tongue on the upper corner of a window.</p><p>Honestly, Alex was starting to see the fun in pranking. Not that he wouldn’t keep trying to bring Luke’s usual pranks back to a sane level. But, next time, he might cave a little faster. Alex was getting <em>ideas</em>.</p><p>
  <em>How can it be,<br/>
That even though they see my plight,<br/>
Everyone is blind!<br/>
Night is day and day is night,<br/>
In a world. That's. Lost. Its. Mind!</em>
</p><p>Luke belted his verse as he taped black tarps up over Bobby’s bedroom windows. He’d initially argued for gluing Bobby’s eyelids shut, remembering the time he got pink eye as a kid and woke up unable to see, convinced he was blind. Glue, though, would not have been fixable with some warm water, and Luke secretly felt bad even suggesting it. No one deserved that. Not even song thieves. Keeping the morning light out though? Not a problem. He may have also bumped strategically into the alarm clock. What off button? There’s an off button? It’s not <em>his</em> fault if Bobby sleeps the day away like it’s night.</p><p>
  <em>The world has gone berserk!<br/>
And hiding in the murk, new monsters lurk!<br/>
I see a sea of snakes upon the floor!<br/>
I see the reaper grinning at my door!</em>
</p><p>Reggie sang to himself as opened the box that held the snakes and screamed. A mass of baby corn snakes writhed at the bottom, where he’d expected to find fake snakes. Stumbling back, Reggie accidentally kicked the box, and it flipped over onto its side. Out spilled a tiny flood of understandably irate snakes. Why did they leave Luke in charge of grabbing these? This must have been what Luke was busy with while Reggie was blowing up the pirate. Reggie stood up and was trying to decide the best course of action when Alex walked back into the room.</p><p>“Alex, great, you can help me with the snakes!” Reggie gestured to where Alex was about to walk unknowingly though the rapidly expanding snake flood.</p><p>Alex frantically dodged the snakes on the floor, desperately hoping he didn’t step on one in the semi-darkness of the few lights they’d dared turn on. “I’m pretty sure we decided on <em>rubber or</em> <em>stuffed animal</em> snakes, Reggie! What is this?!”</p><p>“Uh, Luke’s prank on us? It’s what we’ve got.”</p><p>“Where did he even get these?” Alex teetered on one foot, holding decorations in his arms and trying to find a definitively snake free spot to put his other foot. Since when did snakes move that quickly?</p><p>“Alex, you can walk normally. You’ll just phase right through them. Can’t touch living things, remember?” Reggie said with altogether too much amusement in Alex’s opinion.</p><p>“You don’t know that! Plants are living, and we can still touch the plants in the studio. I don’t want to risk it.” Alex cried, his voice betraying his growing anxiety.</p><p>Reggie sobered. “Okay, yeah, sorry. Here,” Reggie concentrated really hard and started swiping snakes up from the floor. “Good thing neither of us are scared of snakes, huh?” Reggie laughed, trying to lighten the atmosphere.</p><p>Alex glared. “I would like to point out that you’re not ‘phasing right through’ the snakes now. That’s all.”</p><p>Eventually the snakes were corralled into a single cardboard box left at the base of the stairs and Alex made it across the living room with all living things unharmed. He opened the front door to hang up a reaper decoration facing inside. He shivered. That was some good artistry on the reaper. A truly unhinged grin.</p><p>
  <em>I scream in silence!<br/>
Bad is good and good is bad!<br/>
Sacred is profane!</em>
</p><p>Luke was hoping to find a cross to hang upside down or a bible to leave a few choice doodles in, but Bobby wasn’t the religious type, so meditation was as sacred as Bobby appeared to get. Rather on brand for someone with no compunctions about stealing his life’s work, Luke thought. Luke was relieved to find a use for the spine-shaped candles he’d grabbed, and promptly switched out the candles in the meditation room. He artfully rearranged the pillows into a scattered mess and moved everything else that wasn’t fixed down for good measure. Luke didn’t know much about meditation, but he figured a chaotic environment was at least a bit of an antithesis.</p><p>
  <em>And it's wiser to be mad...<br/>
In a world that's gone insane!<br/>
Insane…<br/>
A world that’s gone insane…<br/>
Insane…<br/>
A world that’s gone insane…<br/>
Insane…<br/>
A world that’s gone insane…</em>
</p><p>Reggie, Alex, and Luke met up in the living room as the sun was just cresting the horizon.</p><p>“I am <em>so</em> glad we’re done. I’ve been singing that song practically nonstop for hours!” Reggie exclaimed.</p><p>“Except with the snakes,” Alex grimaced, “Thanks for that, by the way.”</p><p>Luke slung an arm around each of their shoulders. “You’re welcome. What else are friends for?” He pulled them all down onto the couch to wait for Bobby to wake.</p><p>After ten minutes of Luke vibrating with excitement and Reggie yawning, Alex asked, “Didn’t you do most of your pranks in his bedroom, Luke?”</p><p>“Yeah. So?”</p><p>“So, wouldn’t we see the full reaction better if we’re up there? I mean, he must be about to wake up any minute. It’s already 7am.”</p><p>Luke rubbed his neck with an embarrassed laugh. “Yeah, I wouldn’t be so sure about him waking up soon, so we might as well wait down here.”</p><p>Reggie grinned and nudged him. “What did you do?”</p><p>Alex pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re not just referring to the tarps, are you?”</p><p>Before Luke could respond, another voice cut in, causing the boys to go as white as ghosts. The concept that ghosts without a heartbeat could blanch was going to worry Alex later. Right now, he had bigger problems.</p><p>“Oh. My. <em>God</em>. It looks like the Halloween section of a craft store threw up in here!”</p><p>“How did I forget about Carrie?!” Alex cried. He heard her footsteps coming down the hallway near the kitchen and poofed over to the box of snakes.</p><p>“Alex, wait, the box –” Reggie began a second too late. Alex had already picked it up, trying to hide it before Carrie saw. The bottom flaps fell open without the floor to support them.</p><p>“You didn’t tape it shut?!” Alex gasped, trying not to panic with his shoes covered in little baby corn snakes.</p><p>“I’m sorry! I wasn’t thinking!” Reggie moaned. Luke poofed over, grabbed the empty box, and poofed back to the couch, stashing the box out of sight as Carrie walked into the kitchen.</p><p>Alex froze, praying she wouldn’t see the snakes. Particularly the ones crawling on his pants. Alex knew <em>he</em> would scream if he saw snakes floating around a little off the ground. Was this how conspiracy theories got started?</p><p>Before Alex’s thoughts could spiral further, Carrie started laughing. “I told him I didn’t want to throw a Halloween party this year, and he pulls out these decorations? Overnight?”</p><p>Shaking her head, Carrie walked over to the nearest window and looked at the ghost and ghoul decals. She laughed and grinned fondly. “These ghost puns are<em> so</em> lame.”</p><p>“Ghost <em>puns</em>?” Luke demanded, shooting Alex an exasperated look.</p><p>“Aw, she laughed at them!” Alex smiled unapologetically.</p><p>“She also called them lame,” Reggie pointed out.</p><p>Turning into the kitchen Carrie muttered, “Not as lame as that fake blood gimmick though. That’s not funny or scary, just weird.”</p><p>“Hey! I worked hard on that,” Reggie grumbled.</p><p>Carrie grabbed a granola bar from a cabinet. Glancing at the stove she frowned. “That’s a fire hazard,” she muttered before shaking her head and grabbing some juice from the fridge. She walked towards the couch, but stopped abruptly when she saw something in the pool from the corner of her eye.</p><p>Reggie groaned. Alex shot daggers at Luke with his eyes, still stuck in place by the baby snake fiasco. Luke was frozen with his hand over his mouth, looking like he wasn’t sure whether to laugh or run.</p><p>Carrie put a hand on her hip. She let out a soft sigh. “Morbid. But it’s something at least. Something he put effort into.”</p><p>“Hey, Bobby better not be getting credit for <em>our</em> hard work! Again!” Luke protested.</p><p>Alex rolled his eyes. “Come on Luke, read the room.”</p><p>She spun and stalked over to the couch so quickly Reggie barely had time to process her trajectory and poof one seat over. Carrie sat down, oblivious to Luke and Reggie on either side, staring at her incredulously.</p><p>Carrie opened her granola bar and took a bite. “Well, at least Dirty Candy is meeting at Kayla’s today to practice our routine, so I don’t have to look at this nonsense all day.”</p><p>“Whoa, whoa…” Rang out loudly, startling the boys. Carrie slid her phone out and answered the call. “Hi Kayla. Perfect timing. I’ll call an Uber now. See you soon!” With that, the enigmatic blond chugged her juice, walked right past Alex and the snakes with her eyes glued to her phone, daintily stepped over the pool of fake blood without even sparing it a glance, picked up a backpack left at the end of the hallway, and walked out the door leaving the reaper swinging behind her.</p><p>“What the – did she just – not even a reaction?“ Luke blustered.</p><p>“Wow. That was surprisingly refreshing,” Alex remarked with a smile.</p><p>“She almost <em>sat</em> on me!” Reggie gestured emphatically at the seat next to him.</p><p>“No, she almost sat <em>in </em>you, Reggie. You’re living your best ghost life, remember?” Alex quipped as he started plucking baby corn snakes off his pants.</p><p>“She didn’t even notice the reaper! That was the scariest one I could find, too!” Luke pouted, poofing the snake box back over to Alex and helping him collect the snakes that had ventured a little further.</p><p>“She also didn’t notice the floating snakes. Or the article about our death beside the pool of blood. I really don’t see why you’re complaining. That could have gone so poorly,” Alex sighed.</p><p>Luke paused, “Okay, yeah, fair point. But if she’d noticed, she might have figured out about what her dad did –”</p><p>“Which is not her fault and isn’t something she needs to deal with right now.” Alex fished a particularly adventurous snake out from between two couch cushions.</p><p>“I mean, if it was Julie, I wouldn’t want to uncover any painful family secrets that might hurt her, so I see what you mean.” Luke sighed wistfully, thinking of his favorite wrecking ball of a girl.</p><p>Alex and Reggie, snakes in hand, shot each other the fondly exasperated look they were now accustomed to exchanging when faced with their bandmate’s obvious crush.</p><p>They’d finally collected all the snakes back in the box when Reggie exclaimed, “We forgot to tape the bottom again!” The boys looked at each other, at the box, and back to each other.</p><p>“No need to move it right now.” Luke suggested with a tentative glance at Alex.</p><p>“You know what? I’ve had enough excitement for one morning. Sure. We’ll leave the box. Let’s just –” Alex was cut off by a loud yell and thump from upstairs.</p><p>Luke grinned broadly, “First, it’s time to see our plan unfold! The best part of the prank!” He poofed out, and Alex and Reggie shared a tired sigh before poofing after Luke into Bobby’s bedroom.</p><p>The boys poofed in to see Bobby sitting on the floor beside his bed, half tangled in sheets. He was staring at the gruesome ghosts hung around his bed in horror.</p><p>Luke started bouncing on the balls of his feet. “And this is just the beginning!” he crowed.</p><p>Bobby’s expression slowly morphed into confusion as he looked around his room, clearly more awake now. His eyebrows rose at the tarps covering his windows.</p><p>“Is this Carrie’s idea of a prank?” Bobby muttered. He untangled himself from the sheets and shuffled over to a drawer to grab some clothes.</p><p>As one, the boys shared a horrified look and spun to face the wall.</p><p>“We should’ve stayed downstairs,” Reggie moaned.</p><p>“Since when does he – never mind I don’t want to know. I just need that image out of my head. Think of Willie. Think of Willie,” Alex muttered softly.</p><p>“Ahhh okay. Maybe watching the bedroom part of the prank wasn’t the best idea. Let’s just wait in the –”  Luke began.</p><p>“What the…” Bobby exclaimed from the bathroom, and Luke forgot all about bailing on the prank. He slid over to press his ear to the bathroom door. He wanted to hear Bobby freak out when he realized just who was haunting him.</p><p>“Are these runes from some sci-fi book or something? I’ll have to ask Carrie later. Maybe she’d like to draw some more for an album cover or something. They’re aesthetic.” Bobby’s quiet rambling was soon drowned out by the sound of the shower turning on.</p><p>Luke turned away from the door fuming. “Runes?! Look, I know my handwriting is bad, but he should at least be able to tell he’s being insulted!”</p><p>Alex and Reggie were too busy doubled over in laughter to reply.</p><p>“I can’t – ha – wait for – pfff – Carrie’s reaction – to this!” Alex gasped between laughs.</p><p>“I know! Haha – she thinks <em>he</em> decorated. An-and, he thinks <em>she</em> decorated!” Reggie wiped away a tear of laughter. “Just picture their confusion later!”</p><p>“Runes!” Luke grumbled. “Well, at least he’ll figure it out when he sees the blood and the article. Let’s wait in the living room for that at least. Then maybe he’ll figure out those <em>aren’t</em> runes. They are masterful taunts – <em>why are you guys laughing harder?!</em>” Luke chased them through the closed door and down the stairs, narrowly missing the box of snakes as he pulled Reggie into a headlock.</p><p>Roughhousing with the guys put Luke into a better mood and it wasn’t long before they collapsed onto the couch in a pile of tangled limbs and laughter. Just as they were calming down, they heard the door open upstairs and steps coming towards the staircase. They scrambled to get a better view of the staircase, elbows and knees flying everywhere.</p><p>“Ow, Reggie, that’s my leg you just hit!”</p><p>“Sorry Luke, Alex’s elbow hit my stomach.”</p><p>“Luke, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t brain me this morning, accidentally or not.”</p><p>“Shh!”</p><p>The three rubbed their respective bruises and watch the stairs excitedly. Bobby strolled into view with an eyebrow raised at the red stain on the stairs. The red stain that was no longer a clear blood trail. Apparently selective incorporeality meant they’d stepped in the fake blood on a few steps and tracked it over the rest of the stairs, complete with a few smudges around the living room.</p><p>“How many people did Carrie have over to help with this?” Bobby muttered to himself, looking up to scan the decorated windows.</p><p>Bobby walked slowly down the stairs, carefully avoiding the red smears. “She said she didn’t want a Halloween party. Did she change her mind?”</p><p>He paused by the box of snakes, looked inside, and sighed. “I will never understand teenage girls.”</p><p>“Oh, don’t go being relatable!” Reggie complained as Bobby approached the pool of blood near their article.</p><p>“Finally!” Luke said, pointing, “Something he can’t attribute to his daughter. Now he’ll realize it was us. Get ready to be terrified, Bobby! We’re haunting you!”</p><p>Alex cringed, “Can you at least make it sound a little less desperate?”</p><p>“I’m not desperate, I’m hopeful.” Luke replied.</p><p>“Like me, when I flirt with girls.” Reggie added.</p><p>It took a lot of effort for Alex not to facepalm, “Exactly like that, yes.”</p><p>Bobby’s gasp drew the boys up off the couch. They walked up to Bobby, who was standing over the article beside the pool of blood. The boys watched as Bobby crouched down and pulled the article off the floor with a sigh. “Looks like Carrie’s been doing some research. Well, she’s old enough for this conversation now I suppose.”</p><p>“He <em>still</em> thinks this is all Carrie’s work?”</p><p>“This isn’t even the first time we’ve haunted you!”</p><p>“What is ‘this conversation’ supposed to mean? Admitting your thievery?”</p><p>He passed a thumb under their picture. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it, guys.” Bobby said quietly.</p><p>The boys shot frantic looks at each other.</p><p>“He knows we’re here?” Reggie asked.</p><p>“And he’s not freaking out about it?” Luke was indignant. They’d gone to all this work to make Bobby pay for stealing his songs with at least a good fright. And he just wasn’t playing along.</p><p>Bobby reached out to his platinum record, touching it reverently. “I know you’d all be happy your music reached so many people. I just wish you’d been there to see it.”</p><p>It felt like being struck by lightning. Alex sat down right where he stood, hand over his mouth. Reggie was frozen, his mouth open in misery. Luke reached a hand towards Bobby, “You can’t just… They were <em>mine</em>! Why didn’t you…”</p><p>Oblivious to his audience, Bobby smiled sadly. “I wish Sunset Curve could’ve been everything we always dreamed it would be. Everything it almost was.”</p><p>Reggie sobbed. Alex felt tears run down his face but made no move to wipe them away.</p><p>“Then how could you take my songs?! That dream was for all of us. Together.” Luke’s voice broke and he turned away from Bobby, hands covering wet eyes.</p><p>“Thank you. Luke. Alex. Reggie. Thank you for leaving me the last of Sunset Curve’s legacy to build on. I may have lost my three best friends, but at least I had our songs. At least I could share our songs with the world for you. At least I could give you that much.”</p><p>Luke reached for Reggie and Alex and dragged them into a hug, sprawling into a sobbing mess on the floor next to the pool of fake blood.</p><p>“At least you’re in a better place now.” Bobby wiped his cheeks, took a breath, and went to the kitchen to make breakfast.</p><p>The boys didn’t stay to see Bobby’s reaction to their other prank decorations. As one, they poofed back to the studio.</p><p>Reggie sobbed into Alex’s shoulder, “We’re <em>not</em> in a better place though!”</p><p>Alex wiped away a stream of tears. “But it’s still better than that dark room. Even if I am still crying.”</p><p>Luke gave a watery laugh. “We have Julie now. She’s our better place.” Alex and Reggie met his shaky smile with their own. Luke wiped his eyes and pulled them both closer into a tight band hug. “I love you guys. You mean the world to me. You know that, right?”</p><p>“Yeah, Luke. We do. We’re bandmates. We’re brothers.” Reggie whispered.</p><p>“Always, Luke.” Alex agreed. “Do we want to unpack everything that happened back there, or…”</p><p>“Nah, we’re fine.” Reggie said. The tears he was wiping away didn’t make his words any more convincing than his tone had.</p><p>“We will be.” Luke smiled at his best friends, his brothers. “I’d still love to have a few choice words with Bobby, but that’s not what’s important right now.”</p><p>“Aw, Luke, look at that emotional maturity!” Alex teased, wiping away the last of his tears.</p><p>“No, I mean I thought of some new song lyrics.” Luke deadpanned. Alex laughed and rolled his eyes.</p><p>“What’s it called?” Reggie asked.</p><p>Luke grinned his happiest grin, eyes crinkled and joy pouring from him. “I think I’ll call it ‘Stand Tall’. I’m gonna go get Julie down here for a writing session!”</p><p>Luke poofed up to the house, and Alex walked over to his drums. “Grab your banjo,” he told Reggie. “If we’re quick enough we can be mid-country song by the time Luke gets back with Julie.”</p><p>Reggie grinned and poofed over to his banjo. “I love this band!”</p><p>Alex hummed happily in agreement.</p>
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